Various meditations

We're blessed with lovely weather again, which is nice as we have a few visitors to Newmarket as it's sales week, and one always likes to think of visitors seeing the town and the Heath at its best. Saturday night and Sunday morning was continuous rain - which made Jamie Moore's act of schooling Take Me There, accompanied again by good old Kadouchski who is a real pleasure to have in the stable as he's such an obliging horse, on Sunday morning particularly kind because, although mild, it took place in very wet conditions - but other than that it's been very pleasant. This morning was delightful, which was particularly good as I'm told that there was a party of Queenslanders on the Heath. Alma Hannaford, whom I hadn't seen for ages until bumping into her at the Society of Equestrian Artist' exhibition in Palace House last week, called into the yard this morning to pass the time of day, and reported that she'd just seen a party from Queensland - headed by the excellent race-caller Wayne Wilson, whom I've never met but who has always struck me as someone who'd be great company because his passion for racing in general and for racing in Brisbane in particular is very plain when one hears him commentate - enjoying a great tour of the Heath organized by Jean Bucknell, with Lester Piggott and Willie Snaith both showing up to entertain them. That would have been a real Warren Place reunion, with obviously Lester and Willie having ridden for the stable for so long, and Alma and Jean's partner Dave Goodwin having worked there for many years, Dave's period of service including looking after two Derby winners (Slip Anchor and Commander In Chief).

Other Aussies in town include Inglis MD Mark Webster, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for thoroughbredinternet yesterday, and Victorian trainer Tony Noonan - best known internationally for training a double at Nad Al Sheba at last year's Carnival with Smart And Mighty and Benedetti, but whose best known horse to a UK audience would be the steeplechaser Logician, with whom he won the Hiskens Steeple at Moonee Valley and who ended up running in the UK for Andrew Balding - whom Emma tracked down today. I suspect that Emma probably didn't mention our friendship with Richard Sims, Tony being one of Richard's many ex-trainers - although in Richard's defence I must add that Tony's sacking wasn't Richard's fault.

It was good seeing Alma, whom I used to see on a daily basis when training in Hamilton Road when Alma was working for Julie Cecil in the next-door yard, at the SEA exhibition, which is always one of the features of the autumn. The standard this year was particularly good. There were several pictures by a painter I hugely admire, Malcolm Coward, but the real eye-catcher was a tremendous, and very large, oil painting of the head and neck of Hernando, beautifully painted by Alison Elliot, which grabbed one's attention as one entered. This was a truly stunning painting. It was very big, and one would need a big room to display it - and one would need 40,000 pounds because that was the price tag. The same artist had another painting of similar splendour, priced at 54,000 pounds, one which would have seemed familiar to anyone who could recollect a great photograph which the Racing Post carried a couple of years ago of the lovely Scorpion and Kieren Fallon cantering across the middle of the Curragh en route to the start of his belated seasonal reappearance in a Listed race, in which I seem to recall he was beaten by the Quinlans' Frank Sonata. So that was a really nice evening, as it always is, and a particular bonus was bumping into one of the finest artists to have worked in racing, the sculptor Barry Foley. I hadn't seen Barry for a while - his last job in racing was with Nick Littmoden, but he'd have been gone from there maybe three or four years now, having decided that he'd done enough riding out for one lifetime - and he tells me that he hasn't sculpted at all for a while, but may be about to resume. He hasn't exhibited in the SEA exhibition for many years, but told me that he had had some work in them in the very early days.

It would be wrong of me not to mention Arc Day, which I enjoyed with an excellent lunch chez Jamie Trotter. Wasn't it great to see the wonderful Zarkava win so impressively? There is always something very exciting about a horse remaining unbeaten. But as regards a review, I don't think I can add much to James Willoughby's excellent summary in yesterday's Racing Post: it would indeed be shame if she were retired to stud on the incorrect basis that she has nothing left to prove. She beat Youmzain by signifcantly fewer lengths than she was receiving pounds, and she has only so far proved that she is capable of remaining unbeaten through two seasons, and that she is capable of winning one Arc which is something that a horse proves every year - wouldn't it be wonderful if she were given the chance to prove that she is capable of remaining unbeaten through three seasons, and that she is capable of winning two Arcs (and of winning it without a hefty weight allowance) which is something that a horse only ever proves once a blue moon? I know it is different because a gelding has no second career to go on to, but if Harry Findlay were to retire Denman now on the basis that he has nothing more to prove, we'd think he'd have gone even crazier than he already is. And just think if Arkle had been retired after his first Cheltenham Gold Cup because he'd 'done it all'! I don't really believe in telling other people what to do with their horses, but when one reads nonsensical statements that a seven-times-raced horse has nothing left to prove, it's hard not to comment.

On the subject of Arc Day and of unbeaten horses, it was fortunate that we had a tremendous performance in the Arc, and that the eventual Prix de l'Abbaye Take Two was won by the mighty Marchand D'Or, because that helped to assuage the feeling of sadness on behalf of the connections of the wonderful unbeaten Hungarian sprinter Overdose, Europe's answer to Takeover Target. I know that balls-ups happen and aren't necessarily anyone's fault, but I just felt so sorry for all involved with this horse, who was the horse I most wanted to see win on the day. It was so sad watching him power to the line in front knowing that his efforts were going to count for naught, and very hard to accept that he and his connections should be so much the victim of faulty starting apparatus and of a recall procedure which is clearly inadequate. The re-staging of the race was almost as unsatisfactory as the original non-race had been and, if there is any justice, this horse will prove himself champion sprinter of Europe next year, and will treat us all to some terrific duels with Marchand D'Or.

Sadly, if that is the case, I won't be able to write in Racing Review about the lineage of either. I don't know if you have seen a copy of this newly re-born magazine, but it's an excellent publication, and I was delighted to be asked to write for it. I have two articles in the October issue, which I really enjoyed writing and which I was very proud to see appearing in such a good publication, but sadly the magazine appears to have gone to the wall. I know that, as we have such a good daily racing newspaper and as there is so much coverage of racing and breeding on the internet, that it must be very hard to make a periodical viable - particularly as there already are two, Thoroughbred Owner And Breeder and Pacemaker - but it was sad to see the demise of a high-quality product. And I'm not just saying that because I wrote for it.

Looking ahead, we have trips to Southwell tomorrow and to Goodwood on Sunday to look forward to. Take Me There is due to make his hurdles debut at Southwell and Ethics Girl is likely to have her first run at Goodwood. You don't need me to tell you that Take Me There ought to have significantly the better chance of the two - I'd imagine that he will be favourite, while we can expect the Spotlight for Ethics Girl to read something like "two-year-olds from this stable never win first time out, and breeding suggests that an extra mile and year wouldn't go amiss" - but I hope that we shall come home from both venues proud of the horses' performances. Ethics Girl's sire Hernando had two winners at Nottingham today (so if we didn't think about what we are saying, we'd say that he's 'in form') but neither were unraced two-year-olds: one was a four-year-old maiden and the other was a two-year-old from an outstanding family (as his yearling price of 380,000 gns suggests) and had had the benefit of a previous run. So it would obviously be a pleasant surprise if Ethics Girl could win first up, but one can always dream! The two-year-old Hernando winner today was Alanbrooke, a lovely grey colt whom we'd seen last week in Mark Johnston's stable, so it was very nice to see him win today, as was seeing the success in the next race of another we'd seen, Mastery, a son of Hernando's son Sulamani who won (on debut) the second division of that maiden in really impressive style. Wouldn't it be great to send an unraced two-year-old out and have him or her win like that first up? That really would be something to brighten the mornings.